Tesla Technology
As one of the greatest scientists in history, Nikola Tesla was responsible for many, many technologies that earned him his title. From VTOL aircraft to resonant frequency research, he is now idolized by scientists (especially Soviet ones) all over the world. But one aspect of his work interested the Soviets most of all. His Tesla Coil. Whilst Tesla originally called it the "Death Ray", the infant project failed to get off the ground. Tesla claimed that he would be able to make a Tesla Coil capable of firing into 300 kilometres away with accuracy that would hit a pin, but Tesla died shortly after this and took most of his ideas to the grave. Following his death, a team of his colleagues managed to have some success using a new alloy that conducted electricity far better than copper. The Tesla Coil fried its first lab rat. The "Age of Tesla" (or Tesla Technology) began, and the Allies were to suffer for it. History of Use The firstborn Tesla weapon was the Tesla Coil, used during World War II for protecting key installations, points and locations against the newly formed Allied Nations' armoured units. Its capabilities were soon highly feared by all Allied commanders. The only real weakness of the Tesla Coil was its inability to attack any aerial unit, which Allied commanders quickly found out about. Longbow Helicopters were subsequently instructed to exploit this weakness and to destroy anything that resembled a Tesla Coil. Though several civilian water towers were destroyed, the tactic proved successful. Soviet generals like Gradenko insisted that Tesla Coils should be mobile and once again the scientists went to the drawing boards. After two months the first TX-03 Tesla Assault Gun rolled off the assembly line and in no time at all full production had commenced. A Tesla Coil was fitted into the chassis of the modified half-track, sunken in so that only half of it was visible. Capacitors and coils were placed inside to make it less vulnerable, but nevertheless the "Tesla Tank" was little more than a truck, with little in the way of armour. But in combat, the Tesla Assault Gun’s power proved able to turn the tide of several battles. In the last year of the war, Soviets also experimented with giving Tesla weapons to soldiers. The feared Shock Troopers would make debut in Poland, fighting against the Allies during the last months of the war. Though their weapons were nowhere nearly as powerful as those of the Tesla Assault Gun or stationary Tesla Coils, they were still formidable opponents. After the war and under Premier Cherdenko's rule, research into Tesla technology continued, but now with more funding and support than ever before. Tesla Coils were improved, resulting in greater power, superior armour and a faster discharge rate. Also, the Shock Troopers of the Second World War were improved upon, eventually resulting in the Tesla Troopers, an elite division of soldiers dedicated to destroying enemy armour. Unlike their WWII precursors, Tesla Troopers wore large armoured battlesuits, which insulated them from the electrical discharges of their weapons. Discarding the old "oversized cattle prod" design, each Tesla Trooper was armed with specially designed coils, one for each arm, which were protected by armour so there would be no risk of damaging the devices. Overall, Tesla Troopers were considered as elite heavy infantry and were feared by any enemy of the Union. During development of the Tesla suits, scientists experimented with its capacitors to test how strong the Tesla Coils in the suit actually were. A few scientists didn’t bother to cover themselves behind rubber shields because the level of collected current wasn’t high enough. Out of the blue, one of the radio antennas created a massive burst of static electricity which quickly dissipated. Though no one was hurt, every single electrical circuit in the room, from those in the lights to the circuits in the laboratory computer had been fried. The scientists behind the shield were shocked and thought their unprotected comrades were dead, but they were surprised when they were alive. Immediately after this, they started examining what happened and soon afterward one young scientist found the key to this problem. Since the channels from capacitors and Tesla coils were cut down, the capacitors couldn’t hold that much current inside. The path of least resistance was through the antenna. This created an electromagnetic pulse that would fry an unshielded electronics in the area of effect. Scientists quickly improved the equipment of the suits and now, in addition to their arc guns, Tesla Troopers are also equipped with an EMP emitter, able to disable any vehicle in close range or building. However, the unfortunate Tesla Trooper is also affected by the electromagnetic pulse, his battlesuit completely locking down, leaving him at the mercy of his enemies. After the success of the Tesla Troopers, scientists began work on heavy support along the same principles for armoured units. They wanted to make new Tesla Tanks more armoured and stronger than the TX-03. In 1964, the first TX-18 Tesla Tank was produced, but large problems surfaced when Soviet High Command ordered a serial production. Minimizing the massive capacitors into the hull and reducing its firepower forced scientists to use highly complicated systems, and so production of them became very hard, expensive and timely. Tesla Tanks became rare and only the most trusted commanders were allowed to use them. Soviet scientists are anything if not determined, however, and the lessons learned from this were a springboard for a new project to make another Tesla unit. The result was the ''"Stingray"''-class Strike Craft, an amphibious Tesla unit. It wasn’t as well armoured or as fast as the Tesla Tank, but its production was considerably simpler, and Stingrays became a vital part of naval assets and amphibious task forces. Meanwhile, a miniaturised version of the Tesla coils was used for the production of Terror Drone electrostasis rays. In general, Tesla technology became iconic for the Soviet Union and the one of the greatest nightmares for Allied Nations, which led to the latter’s theoretical science superiority, but Tesla weapons were, and still are, a symbol of fearful respect. Other Applications The Driving Engine While most Allied citizens think of Tesla technology as only used as an instrument of death, those who have studied the subject know of one of the Soviets most heavily used in both practical and in propaganda, the Hybrid Diesel-Tesla Engine. The name of the person who came up with this revolutionary motor is classified, at the insistence of its inventor who fears reprisal. The American defector and inventor first came up with the concept in the early forties. According to his testimony, just days after he filed his patent not only did it come back with a rejected stamp on it, but several men also showed up at his house and demanded the plans for military use, for his own sake. Fearing for his life and that of his family the inventor fled to Finland and crossed the Soviet border on foot. When detained he showed several officials several of his design documents he managed to save. When word reached the top, Stalin seeing the advantage of a vehicle that used less fuel than a normal engine and could be started up in seconds rather than minutes, gave the defector funding to develop his invention. By the middle of WWII, the Allies were concerned that hitting fuel trucks was having a lesser effect than expected. The concept proved fairly simple, allowing the Allies to duplicate the technology with ease. A Tesla capacitor supplies part of the energy to the motor, supplementing the diesel engine. In addition to reducing fuel consumption, the capacitor can also be used to recover energy when the vehicle brakes. Most Soviet vehicles increase the range by a modest 20-30%, although in larger vehicles where a Tesla Reactor can be used, such as in the Apocalypse Tank, savings in fuel consumption can be greater percentage wise as well as in actual terms. In everyday life, the Diesel-Tesla Engine soon became standard in all Soviet cars, and pure internal combustion engines practically became a thing of the past in the Soviet Union. The engine prompted the Allies to outfit their military vehicles with hybrid electric engines in between the wars, and the Allies have recently unveiled a series of clean hydrogen, fuel cell and hydrogen electric hybrid engines and outfitted their newest vehicles with these engines. However, a whole new generation of hybrid engines using some sort of magnetic based energy storage system and other new technologies are said in testing, and reports claim remarkable increases in efficiency. Also, Soviets have taken the hybrid engine one step further; pure Tesla engine prototypes have been developed, although they are still reported to be in the early stage of development. Category:Technology